Ian Bell hopeful for his international comeback

Bell last played for England in 2015 against Pakistan in a Test match at Sharjah.

England batsman Ian Bell still hopes to return to the international circuit and vows to continue playing for as long as he possibly can. Bell admitted that he had a poor county cricket season in 2017 due to his substandard performance with the bat and almost had made up his mind to walk away from the game.

In a conversation with the BCC, Bell said, “If you asked me that question now I would definitely want to play again. If you'd asked me that 12 months ago, it would have been a different answer.”

“Whether it is with Warwickshire, Birmingham Bears or England, I just still want to be winning games of cricket.”

However, County Championship matches in 2018 seemed to be more productive for the right-handed-batsman. With the help of three centuries (two of which came in the same game), the batsman made 665 runs at an average of 55.42.

Bell attributes his turn-around in fortunes to take a complete break from the game during the off-season. “Last year, I wasn't in a particularly good place,” said Bell, 36.  “I'd struggled with the batting and there were some massive questions in my own mind as to whether it was time to retire.

“I spoke to a lot of people I trust and I decided to have a real break. I spoke to the management and said I didn't want to hit any cricket balls between now and the New Year.

“I don't know quite how it works out like that but I came back and, in my first net with our batting coach Tony Frost, I hit the ball as well as I have done in the last couple of years. Whether it was just being fresh, energetic, excited, I don't know, but I just felt back in a really good place and more like myself again.”

Having hit 2,002 runs in 74 matches across 15 seasons of domestic T20 cricket, Bell has become the Bears’ highest T20 run-scorer of all-time. He has represented England in 118 Tests, 161 ODIs and 8 T20Is and has scored 7727, 5416, 188 runs respectively.

Bell last played for England in 2015 against Pakistan in a Test match at Sharjah.